Hamilton now sits just 12 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel, who finished fourth after finding himself down in 18th following a front-wing change after taking contact from Max Verstappen.

The German made the most of Sergio Perez's refusal to comply with a team request by overtaking him and his Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon and felt he would have earned a spot on the podium with one more lap.

Vettel said: "I wanted to get a trophy, didn't get one. Obviously, the beginning of the race didn't go our way.

"Three cars in turn one doesn't work. He [Verstappen] saw his gap, fair enough, then he ran over my front wing, you don't do that on purpose because there's a chance of a puncture.

"When I came back to that group [with the Force Indias], I was fairly confident. I came up a lap short."